Still Learning

After class yesterday (and during class as well) I was thinking about how much could be done with sound. I have some experience with sound, but not very much. I have run sound boards for dance performances, but the mixers are relatively simple compared to the larger ones that we are using for our collaboration projects. I always thought that I was pretty good at technology but it seems like I still have a lot to learn.

Specs of Dust in the Internet

I was reflecting on our class this past week and how what we were doing relates to the use of screens and projections on a larger scale. What we are doing is, essentially, framing, and projecting, art. Our videos have a distinct intention and purpose - planned months in advance.

On Tuesday, we used iChat to connect two computers and send messages to each other. Everyday, people worldwide use similar programs (Skype, Facebook, etc) to send live video messages of themselves. Their intent in not necessary art but it does have a distinct purpose. A simple skype chat with a friend probably is not planned months in advance, but it still conveys an important message between two people.

And furthermore, think about youtube. Just think about how many people upload themselves doing crazy - or even not so crazy - things for the world to see. And I'm sure many of those videos are planned months in advanced.

I was thinking about how easy it is to frame yourself, and send your message - whatever that message may be. What we are doing - though inventive and interesting - will merely be one of thousands (maybe millions) of videos online trying to convey a specific message.

Thinking about the global scale of online media really puts our semester-long collaboration into perspective.

Back to Basics

My dad likes to say that old movies are so much better than all of the "crap" that's ok tv today. More often than not, the tv in our living room is turned onto AMC or Turner Classic Movies. Most of the movies that play on these channels, I have never heard of before and I probably will never see again - unless they happen to come on tv when I am around the house. Though they are not as "visually stimulating" as today's shows and movies are, my dad does have a good point. The quality of the production is definitely far below today's standards, but old movies seem to have a certain authenticity and integrity than most of what I watch today. It isn't necessarily the content that is different, or even the acting. They just have a quality that gives them a certain feel. I have no idea what this "quality" is, and I'm not even sure if I could pin-point it if it was right in front of me. Maybe it was something about the era that they were made in. I'm curious about whether it would be possible to imitate qualities from old movies to produce something with more integrity today.

Experiencing the Present

The other night, I was sitting at home watching a re-run of Saturday Night Live. Live TV is always fascinating to watch because there are so many different types of performance occurring simultaneously. The actors/ musical guests/ performers are performing to a live audience as well as a nationwide audience.

There are significantly fewer camera angles used and cuts within sketches - most likely because too many cameramen would be distracting and the performers would not always know where to perform to. Because the comedy and satire is based on current events and popular culture, the performers are aware that their jokes are being performed to a specific and "aware" audience - unlike sitcoms that do not acknowledge the audience members. It made me wonder what it would be like to be a live audience member of the show. There are so many costume changes and internal set changes that the tv-watching audience does not see. The action is framed differently for a studio-viewer than for a television viewer. Even though the content that both audiences are the same, each viewer gets a different perspective of the action.  In some ways it would be like watching a live broadcast of a play. There is a different energy in the live space that is neither visible nor palpable when the action is viewed through a screen. 

Retrograding Screens

Remember – back when having a home TV was a completely new concept – when screens were much smaller and people had to fuss around with the antennas to get decent reception? Of course, I don’t remember that time because I wasn’t alive yet. But I’ve seen my fair share of old movies and sitcoms depicting these outdated customs. A family of 5 all huddled around a miniscule black and white television yet, constantly shushing each other in attempts to hear what is going on, because there was no such thing as “re-runs” or DVR.

Though technology has come a long way since then, I can’t help but thinking that we have come full circle – in some ways, back to the time of the “old tv.”

Just think about the way that many people watch movies and television these days – on their computers or PDA devices. Though this is a very different technology than the original tv sets, I sometimes feel like I’m watching something from 50 years ago. I can’t tell you how many times my tv/movie watching experience has been interrupted by poor internet connections – sometimes causing my computer to freeze and requiring me to restart the program. And the screen that I’m watching on is so much smaller than the tv in my living room.

Yes, planning your schedule around televisions shows is a nuisance, and the HD quality of today’s PDA screens are great when they work, but I still think it’s a little funny how we are, yet again, huddling around small screens instead of larger ones.   

Attention: Captured

Tonight I decided to do something that I do not do very often, and that was sit in front of the television and just watch, regardless of what station or program was on. Instead of focusing on the content of the show, commercials, etc, I tried to pay attention to how the camera work conveyed meaning.

            In one of the shows that I was watching, two parties were taking place – a birthday party for a middle-aged woman, and a high school house party. Every couple minutes, the camera would cut between each of the parties – both furthering and showing contrast in both of the story lines. What I found interesting was that very similar camera techniques were used for both scenes. Jump cuts and shaky camerawork reinforced the chaos within the scenes.

One of the stations that I tuned into was NBC. During one of the commercial breaks, an ad for the Nissan Versa came on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy28I03ml4o

I immediately noticed how the quick cuts and layered frames were used to show versatility and provide the viewer within a dynamic impression of the car. It makes perfect sense that almost every shot was of legs in a car because the commercial was advertising more leg-room. But how often do we, as viewers, take the time to think about how something is shown to us instead of, merely, what is shown. We see the assortment of colors strung together with stop-motion animation. Paired with a catchy song, these are the perfect ingredients for capturing an audiences’ attention. 

Clearly, as made evident by this blog post, it worked.